Star Wars VII-IX, what do you think?

[Unorthodox]

But a lot of it was badly done cosmetic fluff. 

[Unorthodox]

(I really don't find spoilers a problem, honestly). 

Yeah, it didn't take long for 'friends' to spill the beans on this.  I seriously don't know why people do that on social media. 

Anyway, I will refrain from any here. 

Since most of it was 'ruined', I looked at a lot of fan reactions, and star wars fans are turning into bitter old trekkies.  Seriously, anyone who couldn't have seen the direction a couple of these 'shocks' were heading based on the way the canon is moving since the mouse took over hasn't been paying attention. 

That said, there's some curious story decisions as well.  Just not the big ones people are bitching about loudest. 

[Lorizael]

Hm. I may have to limit my social media exposure for the next couple days. The movie won't be ruined for me if I learn spoilers, but I'd still prefer a clean first viewing experience. That way I can contrast it with subsequent viewings.

[Unorthodox]

Alec says it's the best star wars yet. 

Alec doesn't particularly care for star wars, and never really has, so...take that for what it's worth. 

[bvanevery]

I found this new one to be more cerebral than others, a lot of "Jedi spiritual" stuff.  I really enjoyed getting to watch Mark Hamill actually act.  There's been precious little acting in the entire Star Wars franchise.

[bvanevery]

Podracing, for example, had the potential to be an interesting riff, before they put in Jake Lloyd and daft attempts at comedy.  Ben Hur with turbojets for horses--sure, it's dumb, but it's also kinda fun.

I hated, hated, hated the !@#!@#!@#!! pod racing.  I do not want to hear about !@#!@#!@!!!! Vader as a !@#!@#!!!!! kid.  I'm not stupid, I was that kid when Star Wars came out.  Star Wars is about Luke watching his uncle and aunt fried to a crisp outside of their desert igloo on Tatooine, not some !@#!@#!!!! goofy pod nonsense.  We had landspeeders in the original and we don't need any !@!#!@!!@!@@@!!!!!! pods.

The only Star Wars in The Phantom Menace was Darth Maul running Qwai Whatsisname through with a double lightsaber.  That film was an atrocity.  We need the Men In Black to brain wipe everyone that it ever happened.

[bvanevery]

Why is he angry at his parents?

Do we really want to know, or care, about that?  Frankly, we had to suffer it already in Ep. I..III, and I do not want to be subjected to that tripe again.  "How he got there" presumably has something to do with wanting to get in some girl's pants, nasty sand people, and an evil teacher who seems real good.  We spent 3 movies on it and "how someone slides down" does not bear repeating.  They got this one right, to assume that in the intervening years "he's turned" and go from there.  Spare us the indignity of the psycho babble!

[Unorthodox]

Podracing, for example, had the potential to be an interesting riff, before they put in Jake Lloyd and daft attempts at comedy.  Ben Hur with turbojets for horses--sure, it's dumb, but it's also kinda fun.

I hated, hated, hated the !@#!@#!@#!! pod racing.  I do not want to hear about !@#!@#!@!!!! Vader as a !@#!@#!!!!! kid.  I'm not stupid, I was that kid when Star Wars came out.  Star Wars is about Luke watching his uncle and aunt fried to a crisp outside of their desert igloo on Tatooine, not some !@#!@#!!!! goofy pod nonsense.  We had landspeeders in the original and we don't need any !@!#!@!!@!@@@!!!!!! pods.

Again, I disagree with pretty much everyone on the pod racing for one probably stupid reason.  Pod racing was originally supposed to be in episode 4.  It DID make it into the radio drama, and I was that kid who memorized the damn radio drama.  Luke still mentions it all over episode 4.  "I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home."  The T-16 was a racing version of his landspeeder. (briefly seen when C3PO is hiding behind it after R2 runs off) Essentially a pod racer.  He even mentions to Biggs Darklighter the trench run would be just like Beggar's Canyon back home.  The pod race HAPPENS in beggar's canyon.  Unfortunately, we don't get to see threading the space needle, which is how Luke beats Biggs in their race early in the radio drama (which also fried his power converters, and why he wanted to go looking for new ones later). 

So, when the pod racing scene come up, for me, it was a cool nostalgia moment that hearkened back to the original in many ways. 

Yes, we should have started with teen Anakin, and they really should have filmed it the same way they did the trench run for better cohesion, but it wasn't as out of the blue nonsense for me as for most. 

[Unorthodox]

Why is he angry at his parents?

Do we really want to know, or care, about that?  Frankly, we had to suffer it already in Ep. I..III, and I do not want to be subjected to that tripe again.  "How he got there" presumably has something to do with wanting to get in some girl's pants, nasty sand people, and an evil teacher who seems real good.  We spent 3 movies on it and "how someone slides down" does not bear repeating.  They got this one right, to assume that in the intervening years "he's turned" and go from there.  Spare us the indignity of the psycho babble!

I don't know if we'll get told in the movies.  It'll come out in some form of official canon, though.  I'm rather convinced after far too many watches of the force awakening that something happened BEFORE Ben went off to train with Luke.  Something terrible.  It broke up Han and Leia, and caused Leia to send Ben off to Luke.  There Ben struggled with whatever happened plus abandonment, leading to Snope being able to fully turn him.  Given Ben's issues with anger, I can guess what might have happened...

[bvanevery]

"I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home."  The T-16 was a racing version of his landspeeder. (briefly seen when C3PO is hiding behind it after R2 runs off) Essentially a pod racer.

Noooo it is essentially a landspeeder.  And bullseyeing womp rats means Luke is a redneck blowing away varmints from the back of his pickup truck.  There's no (legal) weapons fire in a pod race.

And when in Episode IV is the T-16 declared to be a racing version of a landspeeder?  I don't remember any discussion about that sort of thing.

He even mentions to Biggs Darklighter the trench run would be just like Beggar's Canyon back home.  The pod race HAPPENS in beggar's canyon.

They recycled the reference.  It doesn't mean that the concept even existed in the original movies IV..VI.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see threading the space needle, which is how Luke beats Biggs in their race early in the radio drama (which also fried his power converters, and why he wanted to go looking for new ones later). 

Now I'm given to wonder if a radio drama about pod racing was also retroed when Lucas started !@#$!@#@!!!! with Episode IV to bring it up to modern standards of glitz.

It DID make it into the radio drama, and I was that kid who memorized the damn radio drama.

Now I'm realizing what you mean by "radio drama" is something outside most of our experience of Star Wars.  You aren't talking about overhearing something on a radio in the original film.  You're talking about a fullblown radio dramatization of Star Wars.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_(radio)  A lot of that stuff was not canon.

Now I'm finding out that people don't think a T-16 was a landspeeder at all.  They think it was this light spacecraft, a "Skyhoppper".  http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/T-16_skyhopper  I do remember Luke playing with something in his hand in the original movie, and also that toy being available.  It was very confusing because I'm like WTF did this thing ever actually get used?

Anyways this thing is not a pod racer.  It's a kind of atmospheric spaceship.

[bvanevery]

Due to recent discussion, and my recent watching of the newest movie, I find myself watching the more-or-less original Star Wars on TV "on demand" this evening.  I suppose it's been digitized.  I can studiously ignore the silly creatures and blaster cantina shenanigans.  I do wonder at the color tonality of everything, as I can't tell whether it's this big screen TV, or the digitization itself, that causes the color to be as intense as it is.

Watching all these young actors is mildly depressing, especially with Carrie Fisher dead now.  They are all so baby faced.  It's like looking at immortality.  They have eternal youth on screen, and by comparison I am old now.  Least I'm not Obi Wan old yet, that makes me feel slightly better!

[Unorthodox]

"I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home."  The T-16 was a racing version of his landspeeder. (briefly seen when C3PO is hiding behind it after R2 runs off) Essentially a pod racer.

Noooo it is essentially a landspeeder.  And bullseyeing womp rats means Luke is a redneck blowing away varmints from the back of his pickup truck.  There's no (legal) weapons fire in a pod race.

And when in Episode IV is the T-16 declared to be a racing version of a landspeeder?  I don't remember any discussion about that sort of thing.

He even mentions to Biggs Darklighter the trench run would be just like Beggar's Canyon back home.  The pod race HAPPENS in beggar's canyon.

They recycled the reference.  It doesn't mean that the concept even existed in the original movies IV..VI.

Unfortunately, we don't get to see threading the space needle, which is how Luke beats Biggs in their race early in the radio drama (which also fried his power converters, and why he wanted to go looking for new ones later). 

Now I'm given to wonder if a radio drama about pod racing was also retroed when Lucas started !@#$!@#@!!!! with Episode IV to bring it up to modern standards of glitz.

It DID make it into the radio drama, and I was that kid who memorized the damn radio drama.

Now I'm realizing what you mean by "radio drama" is something outside most of our experience of Star Wars.  You aren't talking about overhearing something on a radio in the original film.  You're talking about a fullblown radio dramatization of Star Wars.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_(radio)  A lot of that stuff was not canon.

Wrong.  The radio dramas were officially licensed and were considered gospel canon up until Disney bought Star Wars.  The original canon tier list was Screenplay>Movie>Radio>Official Novelization>EU.  They are now officially under the "Legends" level of canon and no longer canon, but that is not how they began, and not where they were during the filming of episodes 1-3.  They were based on Lucas' own scripts with his full cooperation and him donating the music and sound effects, which is why the original radio drama runs 4 hours longer than A New Hope. 

This is why I also have a bigger problem with Rogue One than most folks because it pretty much destroys the whole Leia acquiring the plans part of the radio drama.   

Now I'm finding out that people don't think a T-16 was a landspeeder at all.  They think it was this light spacecraft, a "Skyhoppper".  http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/T-16_skyhopper  I do remember Luke playing with something in his hand in the original movie, and also that toy being available.  It was very confusing because I'm like WTF did this thing ever actually get used?

Anyways this thing is not a pod racer.  It's a kind of atmospheric spaceship.

You're talking semantics and design choices now.  Forgive my memory for forgetting it had atmospheric capabilities from a radio drama of it racing in the canyon and never doing atmospheric flight.  Fact: Lucas always wanted a race to happen in beggars canyon involving insert racing vehicle here in episode 4, it's in the screenplay. It happens in the radio drama, which was canon at the time of filming episode 1. 

It got cut from episode 4 for technology and cost to film.  This was arguably needed to explain why Luke is such a good pilot (the X-wings are a T-64 by the same manufacturer).  Yes, it's not a "pod", but the concept is still essentially the same (racing on Tatooine). 

The Pod race was a good call back to that for those of us who grew up with it always being there.  One of those people happens to be George Lucas. 

[bvanevery]

This was arguably needed to explain why Luke is such a good pilot (the X-wings are a T-64 by the same manufacturer).

Nah.  Obi Wan said Luke's Dad was a good pilot.  Luke proves to be strong with the Force.  Really not a hard sell, he blows up the freakin' Death Star for Pete's sake.  Quite a bit harder than just flying a ship.  Oh, and since I just watched Star Wars again, he also gets uppity with Han in the cantina about how he's not such a bad pilot himself, doesn't have to take this, etc.

I am severely disappointed that a "T-16" isn't some kind of souped up landspeeder.  Really ruins my redneck image of Luke bullseyeing womp rats.  I always assumed he just did it with a rifle out of his cab.  The idea being, you can hit something small and at high speed manually, it's not impossible.

One of those people happens to be George Lucas.

But in many ways he sucks, so....  I wish all the prequels never happened.  I object an order of magnitude more strongly to the 1st, but they are all bad.  I'm happy to the extent that Disney stylistically sweeps them under the rug and forgets them.  I've been waiting for someone to redo this material properly.

Mr. Lucas brought us Star Wars, for that I am thankful.

[Unorthodox]

This was arguably needed to explain why Luke is such a good pilot (the X-wings are a T-64 by the same manufacturer).

Nah.  Obi Wan said Luke's Dad was a good pilot.

Piloting is not genetic.

Luke proves to be strong with the Force.

Force does not a great pilot make by every measure we've had since.  Nor is it required to be a good pilot. 

Really not a hard sell, he blows up the freakin' Death Star for Pete's sake.

Which is bad storytelling without proper foretelling, which the race provides. 

Quite a bit harder than just flying a ship.  Oh, and since I just watched Star Wars again, he also gets uppity with Han in the cantina about how he's not such a bad pilot himself, doesn't have to take this, etc.

Which comes off as him being a whiny punk without the foretelling of him being a GOOD pilot.  Hell, he even has 3PO driving while looking for R2. 

I am severely disappointed that a "T-16" isn't some kind of souped up landspeeder.  Really ruins my redneck image of Luke bullseyeing womp rats.  I always assumed he just did it with a rifle out of his cab.  The idea being, you can hit something small and at high speed manually, it's not impossible.

Makes much more sense he's been practicing on what amounts to a training rig for an X-wing.  Also makes more sense him commenting on it at the briefing. 

One of those people happens to be George Lucas.

But in many ways he sucks, so....  I wish all the prequels never happened.  I object an order of magnitude more strongly to the 1st, but they are all bad.  I'm happy to the extent that Disney stylistically sweeps them under the rug and forgets them.  I've been waiting for someone to redo this material properly.

Mr. Lucas brought us Star Wars, for that I am thankful.

I think people are way too harsh on the first one in particular.  Baby Anakin was too far, but otherwise it's nowhere near terrible.  Put teen Anakin in baby's shoes, and it would be just fine. 

Plus Maul kicks ass. 

[bvanevery]

Piloting is not genetic.

But The Force is, and that's what makes Luke a good pilot.  Sorry, it was beaten over everyone's head many times in the movie.  Darth Vader is trying to blow up Luke Skywalker and says "The Force is strong with this one."  Please refer to King Missile song "Jesus was way cool" for the array of powers likely to be bestowed by The Force.  Baking the most delicious cakes, dancing better than Baryshnikov, etc.

Force does not a great pilot make by every measure we've had since.  Nor is it required to be a good pilot. 

Did you miss the disaster called The Phantom Menace where Anakin's natural piloting skills are showcased?

Which is bad storytelling without proper foretelling, which the race provides. 

No, plenty of setup has been given for Luke's piloting skills.  You're just ignoring the instances because you're married to a pod race, that most of us didn't even know was ever supposed to be in the original movie.

Which comes off as him being a whiny punk without the foretelling of him being a GOOD pilot.

Yeah but lo and behold, go figure, he actually is a good pilot.  You know sometimes when people run their mouths, they actually have the skills.  And it turns out to be your own ego in the way, when you say things like "Oh no so-and-so can't have the skills, because..." you don't like how they talk?  Not a good enough reason.

  Hell, he even has 3PO driving while looking for R2. 

Pretty sure that's because they accidentally flipped the scene.  I remember something about that in "the making of" stuff.  I seriously doubt 3PO is actually driving.

Makes much more sense he's been practicing on what amounts to a training rig for an X-wing.  Also makes more sense him commenting on it at the briefing. 

He's commenting on so-and-so's negativity about the impossibility of the task.  Luke has The Force.  Obi Wan taught him to be a positive thinker.  Of course he's not perfect at it: the theme of positive vs. negative thinking is highlighted when Yoda asks Luke to pull the X-Wing out of the swamp in The Empire Strikes Back.

Also, why do you presume that Luke is supposed to shut up in a meeting?  He just saved Princess Leia.  He has firsthand knowledge of the Death Star.  I think not running his mouth in general about stuff and not taking center stage, shows great humility on his part.  He knows he's there to play a role in something much bigger than himself.

I think people are way too harsh on the first one in particular.  Baby Anakin was too far, but otherwise it's nowhere near terrible.  Put teen Anakin in baby's shoes, and it would be just fine. 

Jar-Jar Binks is unforgiveable and bordering on racist.  That whole planet of Naboo and the droid-only combat is the biggest stinkingest pile of nerfing crap.  Should all be flushed down a toilet through the center of some distant planet.

Plus Maul kicks ass.

He does, but also has no personality and is boring except as a combatant.  Some people object strongly to Maul.  I don't because he's the only Star Wars in the whole goddamn thing.